I love watching happy, uplifting movies. Movies that feel like a relaxing trip on a summer's day. Like About Time, Peanut Butter Falcon, Fantastic Mr Fox, Wall-E, Harvey, and so many more.
So when I came across this recommendation about Secondhand Lions on reddit, like always, I first doubted it, and then was blown away. Not especially because it was way more comforting or inspiring compared to other such movies, but because it actually solved like so many of my problems regarding the meaning of life and nihilistic thoughts.
Now it isn't surprising to find a masterpiece of sentences or monologues in unexpected movies. Like Pixar casually dropping the greatest speech regarding criticism in its masterpiece Ratatouille. Or the alley way monologue from the 1945's Harvey starring James Stewart. Or the famous “your move, chief” monologue from Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.
But the way Secondhand Lions answered my questions in this particular scene is, well, life giving me hints.
Now I won't spoil the movie for you. It stars Michael Caine and Robert Duvall as main actors, and the movie is basically a careless mother leaving her son to these two old man's house when they are in no mood to babysit anyone.
But anyway, the scene starts with a little boy character finding this old man character by the lake at night. Sleepwalking. He walks toward the old man and scares him, to awake him and he is awakened. Then the two proceed to have normal conversation like what are you doing here? Go back to sleep. Are you cold? But then after a few lines exchange, the child says that his mother always lies to him and so, he doesn't know what to believe and what not to believe. And then the old man says, exactly this:
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in. - Uncle Hub
And that was it. The answer I always needed to hear.
Why should I be hopeful and believe that it would be all right? Why should I make art? Why should I believe in love, in magic? Why should I even live when there's no point and we are all cosmic dust and meaningless eventually?
This was the answer I needed. Believing is not about the truthness of the statement, it never was, but about the believer. Because we are here to inspire, make Earth a better place than it was before, and tell stories of hope, of magic and ways of the Universe, of good triumphing over evil, of true love comforting us and making us feel safe. We all know the counter arguments to everything. We know the right questions and statements to disturb the beliefs and faith and bring people to their knees, call them idiots, blind. We love to debate and we know we are good at it. But we should believe in those things anyway, regardless of logic and our better-judgment, because these are the things worth believing in.
The old man character says this as a tease for the whole speech that he usually gives to young men. The whole speech, however, is never told in the movie. But then again, what can possibly be equal to what this is teasing?
